UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As the recent National Catholic Reporter editorial defending SNAP in the Missouri subpoena situation about which I blogged on the weekend notes, SNAP is a modestly funded organization that is run on a shoestring budget and mostly by volunteers. Its total operating budget for a year is around $350,000.

And place this financial observation beside this report by Judy Thomas in the Kansas City Star last week: the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph (where SNAP is under heavy fire from church-hired lawyers) spent over $1 million in four months of 2011 in connection with cases of sexual abuse by priests. There are 24 pending lawsuits for abuse now facing the diocese and its employees. From 1 July 2002 through 31 Oct. 2011, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has paid out $14.8 million on matters connected related to allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

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